By Barry J. Blake
Humour permeates our lives. humans inform jokes, make puns, and have interaction in witty banter. there's written humour in headlines and captions, in advertisements, on indicators, t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and within the kind of graffiti. these days humour is accessible on the net and circulated by means of e mail.
fidgeting with phrases exhibits how each side of language is exploited for humour. whilst a be aware has a number of meanings or appears like one other is the root for puns (A boiled egg is difficult to beat). The word-building ideas are used for smart compounds, clever blends and catchy words as in 'circulated via notice of mouse'. Ambiguities within the syntax have enough money extra scope for humour (Miners refuse to paintings after death), and the sounds of phrases may be exploited in funny verse. there's additionally humour to be present in slips of the tongue, malapropisms, and humorous misspellings.
twiddling with phrases additionally covers the subject material of humour and the half it performs in society. it really is an educated account in non-technical language, packed with examples, a publication to be learn for info and for enjoyable
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Additional info for Playing with words : humour in the English language
Example text
She confesses that her typing and shorthand are not up to scratch, so Gene asks her how she holds her job. ‘I give great phone,’ she replies. There is an old joke about a wealthy, older man courting a young girl, who sought to discourage him by claiming her heart was already given to another. The man replied that he was not aspiring quite so high. Another strategy is to sneak a sexual interpretation where none was intended. ’ Traditionally certain words have been taboo to varying degrees. In the nineteenth century the word damn was considered pretty WHAT DO PEOPLE JOKE ABOUT?
Quite a few jokes are about the inexperience of honeymooners. These seem rather quaint now, since most couples put in a pretty solid preseason before formalizing their union. A popular genre of sexually oriented jokes deals with the doctor and patient, and, need I tell you, the doctor is a male and the patient a young attractive female. For instance, I remember seeing a cartoon showing a doctor coming from behind a screen and saying, ‘All right, you can get dressed again, Miss Brown. It’s just as I thought.
It can range from light-hearted banter to serious taunting. The themes are often sexual, and disparaging your opponent’s mother or sister is common. In theory, such a slur is maximally insulting and a provocation to the insulted person to defend the honour of a mother or sister. But in practice such insults are often recognized as stylized and lacking in force through regular use, WHAT DO PEOPLE JOKE ABOUT? 45 just as happens with son-of-a-bitch and mother-fucker. Examples include Yo momma’s like a screen saver, she’s on everybody’s laptop; Your mother’s like a railroad track—laid all over the country; and Your mother’s like a police station—dicks going in and out all the time.